de Blasio's Campaign Manager Hilltop Worked for CONY Which Sent Out the Dirty Money Mailing and Now Hilltop Hyers Works for the Developer Who is Building Luxury Housing on the LICH Site
DE BLASIO DILEMMA: Both Rivington Nursing Home Deed Change and LICH Hospital converting to luxury apartments...Both Under Fed Investigation . . . Both Involve Lobbyist Capalino
Berlin Rosen Helped de Blasio Get Arrested As A Campaign Prop Protesting the Closing of LICH Hospital
Then Broke the Law Using the Mayor's Slush Fund PAC One New York
Then Broke the Law Using the Mayor's Slush Fund PAC One New York
Mayor Says He Will Continue to Seek Advice from Top Adviserin Wake of NY1 Report (NY1) In the wake of a in-depth NY1 report last week, the mayor says he will continue to seek advice from a top adviser despite criticism of their close relationship. Jonathan Rosen runs the public relations firm BerlinRosen and advises private clients with business before the city while also acting as a close advisor to the mayor. Because Rosen is not a registered lobbyist, he does not have to disclose his clients, but the mayor said there's no conflict of interest. "Jonathan is someone I worked with for years. He is a close friend, a close adviser going back many, many years, and he'll continue to be," de Blasio said. "He doesn't represent the interests of his clients when he talks to me. He is someone who I turn to advice on a whole host of issues that have nothing to do with his clients." * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said he does not consider it a conflict when he seeks advice from Jonathan Rosen, a political consultant and campaign strategist who represents a host of clients who lobby City Hall on a variety of issues.* In light of the NY1 report on the close relationship between de Blasio and Rosen, Sen. Tony Avella has introduced a bill that would bar lobbyists from also being political consultants.
Berlin Rosen Runs the Mayor's PAC One New York Which Mailed to Reduce Its Clients Negatives in Assembly Race
Berlin Rosen who worked for 52AD candidate Sikora and the PAC One NY, use to the PAC to send out to the voters of the district a misleading letter that a developers ER would be a good substitute for the closed LICH. Rosen's assembly candidate was arrested during the 2013 mayor's race along with de Blasio protesting the closing of the LICH Hospital. The Brooklyn Eagle called Berlin Rosen PAC mailing the dark money mailing, claiming the closed LICH hospital developer would build an emergency room that would meet the community’s health care needs. Doctors and community leader have called that claim an outright lie. Carroll Gardens Association - Cover-Up of Members' Dark Money LICH Mailing
Community Leaders Blamed Berlin Rosen Candidate Sikora (de Blasio campaign worker) for de Blasio Not Living Up to His Campaign Promise of Keeping LICH Hospital Open
Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News (NYDN) New York City Mayoral Candidate Bill DiBlasio and a nurse are arrested at protest outside the State University of New York offices on West 42nd st. Hospital workers were protesting the planned closing Long Island City Hospital in Brooklyn. “We’re going to lose Long Island College Hospital in a matter of weeks if we don’t act now ... People are going to be much sicker in this city if we keep losing hospitals,” de Blasio said as he was led away in handcuffs. “This is about fighting for our hospitals. We have to save them* Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT) Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.
Community Leaders Blamed Berlin Rosen Candidate Sikora (de Blasio campaign worker) for de Blasio Not Living Up to His Campaign Promise of Keeping LICH Hospital Open
de Blasio Campaign Manager Bill Hires' Hilltop Now Works for Deverloper on the Hospital Site
1. Hires: de Blasio Campaign Manager Who Uses Candidate Fake Arrest to Protest A Closing Hospital As A Prop
2. Once the Hospital is Closed Hires Who Works for the Mayor Slush Fund PAC One NY Uses It to Tell the Community That the Band Aid ER the Developer Agreed to Build is As Good As the Closed Hospital
3. Hires: Sell A Large Development to Replace te Closed to A Community Who Opposes It*
Airbnb Accuses NYC Lawmakers Of "An Attack On TheMiddle Class": At a contentious City Council hearing earlier… * Airbnb is not happy with the NYC Council, which today will hear legislation that would further penalize hosts for renting out their homes illegally. In advance of the hearing, the apartment-rental platform delivered a letter to Council members signed by Airbnb hosts imploring them to back off. * Airbnb agrees to discuss sharing data with officials to crack down on illegal operators (NYDN) * City Council Members Clash with Airbnb Officials at Hearing (NY1) * Councilman threatens $100K fines onAirbnb’s ‘illegal hotels’ (NYP)
4. Is de Blasio Using His 2013 Campaign Account to Pay Hires to Supplement His Pay the Director of His One NY PAC?
Sugar Fix: Berlin Rosen an Unregistered Real Estate Lobbyists
As the Concerned Physicians of LICH Keep Up the Fight to Reopen the Hospital the Mayor and Other Pols are Long Gone
LICH supportersrally in Brooklyn as Appellate Court mulls appeal (Brooklyn Daily Eagle) he battle for shuttered Long Island College Hospital (LICH) played out in front of the state Appellate Division in Brooklyn Heights on Thursday, as supporters waved signs reading, “Save LICH!” and “We’re still here, we still need a full service hospital.” The rally was held to support an appeal by a doctors group seeking to overturn the State University of New York’s (SUNY) decision to award the hospital property to Fortis Property Group. SUNY has been trying to throw out the appeal of the Concerned Physicians of LICH, one of many community groups that fought for more than two years to save the historic Cobble Hill hospital. Barbara Gartner, a member of the group Patients for LICH, said, “The Physicians have a good case, they should have their day in court.” SUNY attorney Frank Carone, however, maintains the Physicians lack the standing to appeal. “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” he said on Friday. “SUNY’s position has not changed. The Concerned Physicians or any individual member can spin it all they want. They simply have no standing.” Patients for LICH member Cynthia Nebel told the Eagle during Thursday’s rally,
Why I am Not Voting Janet (LICH Broken Promise) Gamble, Crown Heights
Why I will no longer vote in NYC(Brooklyn Eagle)As a voter, you put your hope and trust in the person you cast your ballot for and want so badly ... so very badly, that they will try to come through for you. But now I see how stupid and naive I was. Now I see it is not the voters that some New York politicians are working for — its rich, real estate interests. They are the official owners of New York politics. It's not hard to see the damage these people have caused the average New Yorker. Affordable housing is almost non-existent in every borough. Once-beautiful historic blocks of brownstone housing are now dotted with newly constructed houses that resemble ugly cereal boxes. The well-off New Yorker has their pick of luxury housing, which brings me to the reason I will no longer vote.
Long Island College Hospital (LICH) has just been sold to a developer who donated money to Gov. Cuomo. Several other companies were supposed to bid on running this hospital, but trumped up excuses were made against the first two bidders and they were passed over in favor of a company that donated the most money to the governor. This should be a scandal and fodder for whoever is running against the governor this year...but it won't be. Who is going to investigate this? No one... not when you've pretty much hired everyone who could investigate you. Our current mayor got himself arrested last year, protesting the closing of this hospital, but I knew it was just a stunt to gain attention ... and it worked. I voted for him with the silly hope that he would at least try to save the hospital, and when he negotiated a deal for different companies to bid for running the hospital, I had hope again...silly, silly hope. Despite de Blasio promises, troubled hospital is closing down (Fox 5) * Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News * De Blasio Arrested, Just as He Wanted - NYTimes.com
How LICH Hospital Was Murdered In Cold Blood
Mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio was arrested Wednesday morning protesting the closure of Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital
Failure to ‘credential’ doctors lost major insurance monies The State University of New York (SUNY) has repeatedly claimed it was forced to shut down Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Brooklyn and sell the property to a developer because the hospital was losing millions of dollars a month. Now, public filings, testimony and documents obtained by the Brooklyn Eagle show that SUNY treated thousands of patients at LICH for free for almost two years, losing more than $100 million — at the very least — in revenue that it is now scrambling to recover. Over the past couple of months, former LICH patients across Brooklyn have received bills for treatment at LICH that go back, in some cases, more than two years. How did this happen. Documents show that after taking over LICH in May 2011, SUNY Downstate’s failure to file standard paperwork with insurance companies cost LICH at least $106 million -- and likely more.
Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH
#LICH winning bid promises “bridge facility” with 100-bed hospital with ER, ICU. Agencies need to approve. New hospital at LICH: 'Brooklyn Health Partners' chosen by SUNY to buy Long Island College Hospital(Brooklyn Daily Eagel) Under the plan, Brooklyn Health Partners would build a new 300-400 bed full-service hospital in the Fuller and Othmer Pavilions and medical offices in the Polhemus building and part of the Amity Pavilion. It would create a mixed-use “medical district” in the surrounding sites with medical offices, residential and commercial development. * California investors to take over LICH after $250M bid(NYP) * Long Island College Hospital Names Choice for the Future(NYT) Brooklyn Health Partners, a minority-owned business, met the demands of community and union groups by promising to keep the hospital operating with full service.* Winning Bid Sees a Future for LICH(WSJ) * Brooklyn Health Partners scored the highest with its bid for Long Island College Hospital, and SUNY officials have 30 days from today to negotiate a deal to transfer ownership, Crain’s reports * Long Island College Hospital may be saved(NYDN) The state wanted to close money-losing LICH, but unions and community groups sued to stop it, as de Blasio was arrested during his campaign while protesting against a shutdown.
Don Peebles, a developer who is part of a team that is bidding to redevelop Long Island College Hospital's Cobble HIll, Brooklyn, campus has a relationship with H. Carl McCall, chairman of the SUNY board of directors.In 2002, when Mr. McCall was running for governor, Mr. Peebles attended a $500-a-head fundraiser for him in Washington, D.C. Mr. Peebles told The New York Timesthat Mr. McCall was part of a wave of "African-American candidates who are looking at the issues, and who are not activist but are candidates who are going to govern and lead." Mr. Peebles' Miami-based company gave $1,000 to Mr. McCall's campaign committee in September of that year, records show. The Real Deal reported that Mr. McCall had "invested in Peebles' projects." But it is unclear from the article whether the author meant that Mr. McCall had personally invested money with Mr. Peebles, or whether he had invested pension fund money as comptroller. A SUNY spokesman said Mr. McCall never personally invested any money with Mr. Peebles, and did not believe he invested any pension fund d
New Plan Includes 1000 Apartments
Making History for a 3rd Time New Operator Found for LICH Hospital
The new deal over the future of the LICH may be confirmed, but it is much the same one reached in past
Fortis Property Group, which plans to replace Long Island College Hospital with luxury condos and an outpatient facility that includes an emergency room and clinics, has been chosen as the new developer for the institution, the Daily News reports * SEIU 1199, the powerful union representing workers at NYC’s private hospitals, has taken on a new fight: preserving free health care for its own members.* Hospital League head: 1199 contract threat 'misleading' and 'counterproductive'(Capital) * The mayor’s mouse — hapless hospital hijinx(NYP Ed) * Bill’s bitter pil(NYP) * The Post writes that the good news is the battle over the future of Long Island College Hospital is over, but the bad news is the deal is the same one reached before activists, judges and politicians made it their mission to prop up a bankrupt, unworkable facility:*
.@billdeblasio is happy with a LICH deal that all local elected officials deride. Hmm.(Capital) .@billdeblasio, local elected officials split over
de Blasio Fund Raising Chair Lobbyist Capaino Works for Developers That Closed LICH Hospital and St Vincent's
Capalino, Advance and Bertha Lewis All Are Working to Stop the East 91st Marine Transfer Station
Lobbyist shoots to #1 in NYC after backing de Blasio for mayor (NYP) A veteran lobbyist who was a major supporter of Bill de Blasio’s run for mayor in 2013 saw his business nearly double in 2014 after his pal was elected, records show. Jim Capalino reported hauling in $8.2 million from 237 clients last year — up from the $4.6 million earned by his downtown Manhattan firm during the last year of the Bloomberg administration in 2013. The firm also signed 69 new clients, according to records released Monday by the City Clerk. Capalino’s surge was enough to dethrone the city’s perennial No. 1 lobbyist — Suri Kasirer, of Kasirer Consulting, whose billings also rose, from $6.6 million to $7.7 million.Among the new clients that swarmed to Capalino + Co. were a number trying to change the mayor’s position on public projects, including Asphalt Green. The group has been engaged in a protracted fight over the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station that is under construction near Gracie Mansion
“Picking the mayor has helped his business explode, but he’s always been very competent,” fellow lobbyist Hank Sheinkopf said of Capalino. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful campaign — including a Roosevelt Hotel bash featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in October 2013 — where he was listed as a co-chair expected to bring in at least $25,000. Kasirer was also a $25,000 co-chair at the event, which pulled in over $1 million for de Blasio.He has since donated to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit arm of City Hall chaired by de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray. Among other top lobbying firms, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin — which consulted on Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s campaign for the top council spot — also boosted its billings after backing a winner. The firm climbed from seventh place in 2013 — with $2.1 million in business — to fourth place in 2014, with $3.3 million in billings. * Lobbying Report
LICH New Owners Chosen by SUNY
Big Win for the New Mayor
SUNY Selects Full Service Hospital Proposal for LICH
LICH bidder has ties to SUNY board chair(CrainsNY)
Where is the Investigation? Why Did SUNY Buy LICH?
Why Did SUNY Buy LICH for SUNY $205,350,000 owned by Continuum Health Partners If They Never Had the Resources to support A Hospital? Now the WSJ Reports the Growing Debt of the Hospital is More Than A Real Estate Deal Will Take In
The hospital would be operated by Quorum Health Resources. Most important to local residents, a “bridge facility” would open immediately, which would include a 100-bed hospital with ER, ambulatory care, ICU and other medical services. Brooklyn Health Partners has also promised to continue to employ at least 300 healthcare workers to provide care during the bridge operation of the hospital, and an additional 2,000 when the new hospital opens. On the real estate side, the proposal includes 1,000 units of residential development, 30 percent affordable, along with some park space. The team will seek to rezone the non-core properties, but there is no assurance the zoning changes will be approved.* LICH Bid Winner to Maintain Full-Service Hospital(NY1) * Brooklyn Health Partners Selected to Run LICH(WSJ) * Bidder pledging full service hospital tapped to take over LICH(NYDN)
Hamill: Long Island College Hospital merged to death - NY Daily News(2013) SUNY Downstate Medical Center deal with LICH absorbed $300 million in LICH red ink run up by a hospital consortium called Continuum Health Partners. Continuum is run by a ruthless powerbroker named Stanley Brezenoff whose nickname at LICH is Darth Vader. Brezenoff is a quintessential member of what muckraker Jack Newfield called The Permanent Government of New York. This professional politico was appointed by Mayor Ed Koch to run the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp., the feudal lord of a medical fiefdom within the city’s patronage-larded permanent government. While in that post, Brezenoff compiled a Rolodex listing all the shadowy players in the city, state and federal medical rackets swimming in Medicaid and Medicare dollars
9 Bids to Save LICH
SUNY announces nine bidders now vying for LICH(Capital) SUNY officials announced this morning that they had received nine bids to take over Long Island College Hospital.The bids, which include five new bidders, were submitted to SUNY on Wednesday and are now being reviewed.The new bids come one month after SUNY agreed to rewrite its request for proposals, and they more provide far more options than had been available to SUNY in the past. For months, the discussion revolved around bids submitted by the Fortis Property Group, Peebles In addition to those four bidders, who had originally proposed to take over the troubled Cobble Hill hospital, five new players have now joined the fray: Brooklyn Health Partners, Lana Acquisitions, Prime Healthcare Services, Trindade Value Partners, and The Chetrit Group.* Brooklyn’s Interfaith Medical Center has tentatively restructured its leadership as part of its bankruptcy plan, naming Melany Cyganowski chief restructuring officer and Steve Korf interim CEO, City & State reports:
